Greens Senator for Queensland Andrew Bartlett says Malcolm Turnbull’s pledge of millions of dollars to protect the Great Barrier Reef is a wasteful publicity stunt aimed at distracting attention away from those who continue to put the Reef at risk.

“The real beneficiaries of this blatant publicity stunt are the fossil fuel giants and their Liberal Party mates who will continue to go about their business as usual - certainly not the Reef or the public, who are footing million dollar bills for wasteful projects that are doomed to fail.

“The Reef Plan report card deserves a total fail for ignoring the impacts of global warming, under-funding water quality measures, and trying to gloss over the failure to reinstate strong land clearing laws.

I move, That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency: The record-breaking coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef and Kimberley reefs and the choice between the Adani coal mine and healthy reefs.

Environment Minister Hunt's attempt to use Sir David Attenborough's documentary to downplay threats to the Great Barrier Reef, including those inflicted by the government, is disingenuous.

Australian Greens Deputy Leader and climate change spokesperson, Qld Senator Larissa Waters, who met Sir David Attenborough at the Paris climate talks where she watched parted of his documentary, said:

"Sir David Attenborough has long warned strongly of the grave impacts of global warming and is a leading supporter of the global transition to renewable energy.

With coral bleaching already confirmed in the Great Barrier Reef today and scientific concern for a mass bleaching event soon, the state and federal governments must overturn their approvals for the Adani coal mine.